Ahong (Chinese:行;pinyin:háng;Jyutping:hong4-2) was a type of Chinesemerchant establishment and its associated type of building.[1] Hongs arose inGuangzhou (formerly known as Canton) as intermediaries between Western and Chinese merchants during the 18th and 19th centuries under theCanton System.
The name "hong" (Chinese:行;pinyin:háng;Jyutping:hong4;lit. 'profession', 'row') originally referred to the row of factories built outside of the city walls ofCanton near thePearl River.[2] TheThirteen Factories were used during theCanton System period to host foreign traders and the products purchased, under the aegis of thecohong. The hongs (or Factories) were usually owned by hong merchants such as Pan Zhencheng (also known asPuankhequa).[3]
The Cantonese hongs changed location several times after fires[4] and became less important after theFirst Opium War (1839–1842), as Canton lost its monopoly of foreign trade and Hong Kong was ceded to the British as a colony.
In Hong Kong, the namehong is used to designate major business houses. One of the earliest foreign hongs established there wasJardine Matheson & Co., who bought Lot No. 1 at the first Hong Kong land sale in 1841.[5] In 1843 the same firm established a mainland China headquarters on theBund in Shanghai, just south of the British Consulate. The building was known as "the Ewo Hong", or "Ewo House", based on theCantonese pronunciation of the company's Chinese name (怡和行,Cantonese:ji4 wo4 hong4, now怡和洋行).[6] Jardines took the name from the earlierEwo hong run byHowqua near Whampoa, Canton.[7]
The term is most often used in reference tocolonial Hong Kong companies.
Prior to the establishment of banking institutions other than small foreign bank branches, the three firms that financed most of Hong Kong's economic activities wereJardine Matheson & Co.,Dent & Co., andRussell & Company.[8] Most of these firms became multinational corporations with management consisting of largely European expatriates.[9]
By the time of the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, many of the hongs had diversified their holdings and shifted their headquarters elsewhere to avoid potential takeover by theChinese Communist Party.[9]
Note:Below are lists of companies that had a predominant effect on Hong Kong's economy at a particular era. Their noteworthiness is debatable. The official names of the era are used.
